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Podcasts for Carnival: From Guinea-Bissau, Colombia, Brazil and beyond :.

Carnival rituals are extremely diverse worldwide and passed through different processes such colonialist repression and segregation, christian usurpation, civil calendars manipulation and many other adoptions and misuses. Even with all this constrains populations keep carrying this celebrations deeply rooted in the Equinox astronomical seasons. Spring for north hemisphere, Autumn/Fall for south hemisphere. In a spiritual perspective, Carnival precedes a time of rigor and discipline always connected with nature transformation and the human interaction with It, specially the fertility rituals, that is why this Carnival days are days of hard celebration as a collective catharsis.

Below are some fresh and old/classic podcasts and videos that capture the essence of some of the most well known Carnivals worldwide showing a strong parallel between popular festivities and the beginning of the use of the first street and portable sound systems.

The first pick goes to Tobias Kraco and Henrique Andrade of Mad Radio with a selection of Lusophone music with a contagious festive spirit from Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde and Brazil.

Leonardo Ruas and Kim Salomoni picked some vinyls of the most iconic classics with Carnival flavor from MPB for their Brazilian Tapioca Discos.

A selection of Gumbe music made between 70’s and 80’s usually played in one of the most important African carnivals, the Guinea Bissau carnival. Gumbe is a very rhythmic musical style of West Africa played particularly in Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Cape Verde and Gambia.

Almost a year ago, Colombian artist based in Berlin and London,Isa GT dropped a tremendous mix full of sabrosura coming from Caribbean´s Barranquilla with a special Colombian carnival classics for Love Carnival podcasts.

Landing on Bolivia we enter the Danza de los Diablos (Devil´s Dance) or Diabladas, an original and typical dance from the region of Oruro in Bolivia “characterized by the mask and devil suit worn by the performers. The dance is a mixture of religious theatrical presentations brought from Spain and Andean (Pachamama) religious ceremonies, specially from Uru civilization who used to dance the Llama llama in Ito festivities for Itw God. The music, like the dance is a mixture of pre.and-post colonial exchange with focus on christian motifs. This is a set recorded by enthusiast soundcloud user Vladimir Flores of Diabla Eucaliptus del Gran Poder supporting band for the annual parade.

From NYC to Trinidad, Dj The One Gyal Army brings pure heat presenting “Savages of Carnival 2018 Soca Sampla”. Into her words a sneak peak of “what the greatest show on earth will sound like for the 2018 Trinidad Carnival season”. Do not doubt about it.

Things went full raw and provocative (specially if you know Portuguese) with this new Iasmin Turbininha mini podcast full of Funk Proibidão.

After the popularization of Jamaican sound system culture through mainly Afro-Caribbean communities like the Picó in north east Colombian coast during the 60´s, the end 70´s brought to Brazil the same culture for carnival parades with DIY mobile sound systems where bands would play live during the parade, supported by dances, costumes, proper concepts for the mobile sound system where engineers, painters, craftsmen or dressmakers work during months for the official presentation of the “bloco” (group). Before is a whole history of independence and Black emancipation (Afoxés) that is the real beginning of Afro-Brazilian carnival that starts around 1900. In 1980 Bloco Traz os Montes reinvented the technical aspects of speakers and the band position inside the truck (Carnival just became professional a few years before) and a new era was born. That year they invited the group Chiclete com Banana. The group is nowadays well known for the popularization of the commercial Axé genre, but back in that days, Axé was not invented as we know it and the Bahian guitar, for many the soul of Carnival, would play a mix of Frevo, Samba, Forró, Portuguese folk and Afro-latin genres in a coherent tropical psychedelic blast. For me is one of the most beautiful Carnival soundtracks.